Last month, London-based crypto wallet and exchange operator Blockchain.com secured $300M (approx €248.9M) in its Series C round from DST Global partners, Lightspeed Ventures, and VY Capital. On Wednesday, the company announced that Baillie Gifford not only participated in that round, but invested $100M (approx €82.9M) — the largest single investment in Blockchain.com to date.
110 year-old asset management firm
Baillie Gifford is an independently owned investment management firm. It is a 110-year-old firm who were early investors in some of the biggest tech-enabled companies over the last 20 years including Tesla, Google, Amazon, and Airbnb, among others.
Peter Smith, CEO & co-founder of Blockchain.com, says, “Baillie Gifford keeps a low profile, has exacting standards, and is an invaluable partner to Blockchain.com as we grow. As one of their first investments in a crypto company, we’re honored to include them on our journey to bring the next 1B people into crypto. It’s also a validation that a balanced and diversified retail/institutional business has incredible growth potential in the coming years.”
The firm is owned and run by 47 of its senior executives who operate as a partnership that enables them to manage the business for the future as well as the present, with the emphasis on genuine long-term thinking.
Recently, Baillie Gifford announced that it has appointed three new partners including Catherine Flockhart, Dave Bujnowski and Colin Lennox. They will be joining from 1st May 2021. While Two partners will be retiring from the firm on 30 April 2021 – Charles Plowden (already announced) and Bill Pacula.
Buy and sell Crypto in minutes
Founded by Benjamin Reeves, Nicolas Cary, and Peter Smith, Blockchain.com offers a crypto wallet that lets users buy, sell, hold, send, receive, and earn interest in the wallet brokerage with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
The UK company offers retail trading and other services for professional investors including credit, structured products, trading, and custody.
CEO & co-founder Smith, says, “Over 31M verified users in over 200 countries used the platform and have seen a 3x increase in active users over the past 12 months alone. With additional resources and support we’ll continue to relentlessly improve our product, grow the business, and evangelise the crypto space.”
To date, the company has managed to create over 65M Wallets with 28 per cent of all Bitcoin transactions through its platform that represent billions in transaction volume.
Recently, Blockchain.com has also introduced Instant Transfers, which allows users to trade, swap, or sell back into cash immediately. It is currently only available for Gold-verified users in eligible states.
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